Serenissima is the winner of my drawing – Just email me with your snail mail addy and I’ll get your prize out to you! margo@margomaguire.com

My November, Silhouette Special Edition, Merry Christmas, Cowboy! is available this month. It seems to be selling well out of the gate (so to speak). I found out it is #77 on BookScan this week!! BookScan (in case you’re not familiar with it) monitors sales from chain bookshops, internet book sites, discount outlets and independent bookshops in the leading English language markets.

Merry Christmas, Cowboy is the third book in my Meet Me in Montana triology. I loved writing this book so I’m happy it appears to be doing well. Here’s a brief blurb about the book:
Lauren Van Meveren came to Big Sky country to complete the research for her dissertation. Unlike her two friends who unexpectedly found their perfect matches in Sweet River, Lauren has no illusions there’s a happily-ever-after for her in the Montana stars. The daughter of two prominent academicians, Lauren’s career path was determined long ago.

Widower Seth Anderssen vowed on his wife’s deathbed that he wouldn’t marry again until their daughter was grown. But when Lauren temporarily moves in to help him care for his injured child, keeping his heart safe proves an impossible task. But Seth is a man of his word, and he’ll keep his promise… even if that means the woman he’s grown to love can never be his.

My question to you is…if you were single, do you think you’d have an issue marrying a widower and raising his child (or children) as your own? There are no right or wrong answers. I’d just like to know your thoughts.

Of all the junk email I get, I like the travel package ones the best. Some are ridiculously inexpensive. And the pictures are drool-worthy.

The travel companies always make those getaways to exotic locales sound so tempting! Even though I’ve heard horror stories of people going on these junkets only to end up in crappy hotels with tangled flight plans, the pictures alone make you forget all about it. At least for the moment.

It simply sounds like heaven to grab a flight to an island hideaway for a long weekend. Forget vacation planning. Just play jetsetter. Do nothing but relax and soak up the culture.

How fabulous it’d be to not think twice about exchanging the cold rain, dreary days and biting wind of hometown for oh, let’s say Bora Bora in exotic French Polynesia. Blue skies, sundrenched white sand beaches and warm turquoise waters. Lazy days and lazier night.

Or maybe rent an Italian villa. Lounge on an aged terrace and enjoy good wine and mouthwatering fare. Tour Tuscany, Cinque Terre, Florence, Milan. 

For a closer junket to the US, how about a jaunt to the Mayan Riviera? Stroll the beach or tour the ancient ruins by day, and party the night away from Cancun to Playa del Carmen.  It is a fabulous playground for the rich and not so rich, plus there’s the alluring history abounding in the Yucatan Penninsula that beckons.

Since I’m not in a position to indulge in spur of the moment trips yet, I take internet trips around the globe. Research for books mainly, but while gathering that info, I do dream of the day when I can just travel for fun.

What about you. Do you have a favorite getaway spot where you energize or just relax? Where’s the one exotic place you’ve always dreamed of visiting?

What do you think? Do any of the kisses here rank as your Number 1, top movie kiss?

I think my all-time favorite happens in Bell Book and Candle, between Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. He is so desperate! But there are lots of really good ones. What does it for you? What makes a really good screen kiss? For me, I have to be “engaged” by the characters – I really have to care about them and be drawn into their story. The emotional content leading up to the kiss is really important – they do this well in a lot of TV shows – draw out the sexual tension for an entire season (or more) and the audience clamors for the two characters to get together, right?

Tell me your favorite movie (or TV) kiss and I’ll pick one contributor to receive a copy of Taken by the Laird or Wild.

Can you imagine not being able to read?  I can’t.  Think about all the things in our daily lives that require the skill of reading.  A few examples: reviewing bills; checking the list of ingredients in a new flavor of icecream; and reading a child’s progress report from school.  One of my favorite things to do, especially on cold winter nights, is to snuggle under a soft blanket by the fire and read a great book.  It’s exciting to tap into my imagination and be swept away into a wonderful story.

My personal love of reading is one of the reasons I’m thrilled to be one of the coordinators of a fabulous annual event, the Romancing the Holidays book signing that features talented Florida romance authors and benefits the Adult Literacy League.   The signing will take place on Saturday, November 7, from 2 – 5 p.m. in the center court of Altamonte Mall, 451 E. Altamonte Drive, Altamonte Springs, Florida.

Twenty-three authors will be signing their books provided by the mall’s Barnes & Noble store, and 20% of proceeds will be donated to the Adult Literacy League.  There will also be raffles of book baskets and other goodies.  It’s a fabulous chance to come meet published authors, stock up on your winter reading, and pick up some signed books for gifts, too.  I’m excited to be one of the participating authors and will be autographing my medieval historical romances published by Medallion Press.  My good friend and fellow Jaunty Quills author Nancy Robards Thompson will be there signing her books, too.

A heads up: be sure to come early.  The first 100 people to buy books will receive an incredible free goody bag filled with books (many of them signed), excerpt booklets, bookmarks, candy, and more.  The novels and promotional materials were donated by publishers and authors.  Most of the goody bags have a value of at least $40 and all of them are different.   The photo to the right is of the contents of one goody bag.  This one includes one hardcover, one trade paperback, and three mass market paperbacks (including a signed copy of A Knight’s Vengeance, Book One of my Knight’s Series), plus promotional materials.  Even if you buy just one novel–and you’re among the first 100 book buyers–you will get a goody bag!  Don’t miss out!

For more information on the Romancing the Holidays book signing, please visit Central Florida Romance Writers’ website.  You can view the full color flyer on the home page of my website.

I hope to see you on November 7!

I love sneak peeks! When I was in high school some of my friends worked at the movie theater, and they were always inviting me to see advance previews of new movies. I felt so cool and so special. I like to be the first one to see something new.

If you like sneak peeks, you are going to love this! You can get a peek at the cover for my June 2010 release, The Making of a Duchess, now on my new website.

Yes! Not only is my new cover posted, the whole website has been redesigned. That’s a two-for-one sneak peek.

While you’re clicking around my new website, don’t forget to enter my contest. You could win an autographed copy of Good Groom Hunting.

And, the biggest sneak peek of all…

So many of you have emailed me about the fourth book in my Misadventures in Matrimony series. I still have no idea if or when it will ever be published, but I did post an excerpt.

Enjoy!

When you think of heroes in real life, the usual images come to mind — firefighter, cop, doctor, Captain Sully. But quite often, heroism comes from the person you might not expect, the least likely source of grace. The following story is one I can’t tell in person, because I become a bit, er…overwhelmed. I can say quite honestly that it is my privilege to tell it.

Last year, I went to my daughter’s middle school cross-country meet. To set the scene, it seems that kids who run cross-country are generally pretty good kids. It’s one of the few sports where personal achievement really seems to matter more than winning. The kids try their hardest, the coaches don’t seem to care a whole lot about who placed where, and you get cheered no matter where you finish. When the girls are running, the boys plant themselves along the course and bellow encouragement, and the girls do the same for the boys. I like to stand mid-course; the kids have to pass me a few times as they wind their way around, and I have a clear view of the finish line.

At this one particular race, one of the girl runners had Downs syndrome, and perhaps because one of my favorite cousins does as well, I kind of fell in love with her. For the sake of this story, let’s call her Ashley. Ashley was tremendously excited; I think it was her first meet, and she was jumping around, chattering to her parents, stretching with great enthusiasm.

When the runners lined up, she had the biggest smile I’d ever seen. You could tell she just loved being on the team, part of the excitement. She was literally jumping up and down, having an absolute a blast. Then the whistle blew, the race began, and the girls sprinted off. Ashley immediately fell behind. She was quite slow — possibly as slow as I am, and much, much slower than even the back of the pack, which quickly outdistanced her.

Perhaps, like my cousin, Ashley had a heart condition. I don’t know. Whatever the case, she trudged along the two-mile course, falling further and further behind. The effort started to show. Her smile dropped, she was breathing hard. Her mom and dad shouted encouragingly, and all of us other parents clapped and said, “Keep going, honey!” as she went by, but she was hurting. She’d trot a few yards, then walk, and her sunshiny mood faded bit by bit. Before she was even halfway done, the winners had crossed the finish line. Ashley kept going, across the field, along the road, up through the trees, past the soccer pitch as the other girls streamed down homestretch to the cheers of their teammates.

Finally, Ashley came to the last leg of the race, trudging along, on the verge of tears. Every single other girl had finished, was waiting in line to record their times, drinking water, laughing with their friends. Ashley knew she was last.

And then she saw something really remarkable. Up ahead, about fifty yards from the finish line, the entire boys team from her school was waiting for her. “Come on, Ashley!” they shouted. “You’re almost there!” She broke back into a trot. “You’re doing it, Ashley! You’re looking great!” Those boys didn’t just wait for her. As she reached them, they flanked her and followed her, and Ashley broke into a sprint. And then the girls, all of them, on her team and everyone else, all the other coaches, all the other parents, saw her coming. They started cheering and screaming, and when Ashley came down the home stretch, she was flying.

When she crossed that finish line, she burst into tears. Those boys, those wonderful boys, hugged her and high-fived her and told her she was just great. Then all her teammates surrounded her, and it was pretty clear who won the day.

I can only imagine how that felt, how her parents felt. I myself was completely overcome. To this day, I can’t tell that story without crying. I’ve seen a lot of wonderful victories…the New York Giants beating the perfect team, my beloved Yankees stealing a Pennant or two. Nothing touches this.

In a world where so often we hear stories of the worst of people, those boys — those adolescent, middle-school boys — gave that little girl (and the rest of us) a memory to last a lifetime, and showed us the very best of the human heart.

Hats off, boys. And Ashley…you are my hero.